Big Creepy-Crawlies: Difference between revisions

|Jack O'Neill, ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' 2x10 "Bane"}}

 

 

 

 

 

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* ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'' has several of these, most notably the building-sized woodlice known as the Ohmu. While they can be unbelievably dangerous when provoked, they're usually quite docile & even kindly, with the Ohmu being portrayed as extremely wise, [[Gentle Giant]]s, akin to terrestrial whales.

* Lutecia of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' [[Summon Magic|summons insects]] of varying levels of largeness. From the human-sized Garyu, to the car-sized Jiraiyo, to the [[Kaiju]]-sized Hakutenou.

* The Vajra from ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' range in size from large jet fighter sizes grunts to ones larger than most capital ships. Their queen in particular is several kilometers in size.

 

* ''[[Max Und Moritz]]'' by [[Wilhelm Busch]] had may beetles as big as a human hand.

 

 

* ''[[Them]]'', a classic [[I Love Nuclear Power|nuclear]] [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|monster movie]] about giant ants.

* The giant cockroach alien from ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]''.

** Speaking of giant New Zealand insects: [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9gbYHPyGGHU/RpqBrkv0ScI/AAAAAAAAAFo/T2T31lt5J5c/s400/giant_weta.jpg meet the Little Barrier Island giant weta.]

*** Damm!

** And of course, there's Mothra, probably the most popular insect Kaiju out there.

** And Mothra's evil twin Battra and Megaguirus the demonic dragonfly

* ''[[The Black Scorpion]]'' is a 1957 film about giant prehistoric scorpions released by a volcanic eruption in Mexico.

* ''[[Beginning of the End]]'' is a 1957 film about giant grasshoppers attacking Chicago.

* The ant and the scorpion in ''[[Honey I Shrunk the Kids]]'' are normal-sized, but due to our protagonists [[Shrink Ray|being minaturized]], end up having the appearance of Big Creepy-Crawlies onscreen.

* ''ManSquito''.

 

* [[Orson Scott Card]] uses this with the bug-like species systematically killing the crew of a human starship because, aside from the queens, their own species doesn't have free will, and they just assumed we'd be the same way. Subverted in that the bugs have bones, and that they're actually quite a nice and sympathetic, even naive (if occasionally creepy) species.

* [[Robert A. Heinlein]] used such bugs as a [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|metaphor for Communism]] in ''[[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]]''. They had a Brain Caste of very smart individuals and the warriors were as smart as they needed to be to fight effectively, but the workers were relatively mindless and instinct-driven. Which actually works pretty well as a metaphor for the USSR. In [[Starship Troopers (film)|the movie]], this was extended to the whole species.

* The giant alien insect species, Hetwan, in ''[[Everworld]]''.

* The Taxxons in ''[[Animorphs]]''.

* In Adrian Tchaikovsky's ''Shadows of the Apt'' series giant insects basically fill the niche in the ecosystem that mammals do in our world.

* Someone, somewhere, ''must'' mention the abominable [[Gorn|squickfest]] that is ''[[Eat Them Alive]]'' by [[Awesome McCoolname|Pierce Nace]]. A mentally unbalanced ex-con exacts vengeance upon his former partners in crime with a horde of giant killer praying mantises. The entire book is nothing but page after page of giant mantises rampaging and eating people.

* In ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', giant dragonflies described as having a six-foot wingspan appear briefly in the aviary, without any explanation given for their presence.

 

* The first season of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' featured occasional appearances by N'Grath, a crime-lord who looked like a giant praying mantis.

*** What about the Shadows' ''[[It Got Worse|ships]]''?

* [[Doctor Who]] has the stories ''The Web Planet'' and ''Planet of the Spiders'', among others. The queen spider was larger than a double-decker bus, man... Eugh.

 

* The insect spirits in ''[[Shadowrun]]'' are [[Body Horror]]s that turn their host into a Big Creepy Crawly.

* ''Tyranids'' from ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' play this trope to the hilt. They are just tools of the [[Hive Mind]]—a psychic construct of billions of individual 'nids' "minds", guided by an immaterial gestalt of sorts. Hive tryants and swarm lords are said to have a mind of their own that uploads into the hive mind when they die and is placed on a new body when need be, effectively making them immortal.

** The original concept of the Tyranids was insects crossed with dinosaurs, and they're about as scary as you might expect. A Hive Tyrant looks like a Tyrannosaurus crossed with the Alien Queen and Godzilla.

*** And those three only have 4 extremities. Tyranids have 6.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has had many giant insects over the years, including bees, wasps, and ticks.

** And manscorpion (sort of scorpionic centaur). And the antlike formians.

** The Hivebrood are a version from Basic/Expert/etc D&D which doubles as [[The Virus]].

* [[Talislanta]] has a ton of freakish fantastic versions, such as flying leeches, snap-jawed worms, and hive-dwelling semi-humanoid ''scorpions''.

* ''[[Werewolf: The Forsaken]]'' has the Nidmuzug, or, more plainly, the Unclean. Humans who ate food contaminated by the spiritual taint that all Nidmuzugs emit and found themselves turning into were''cockroaches''. Their hybrid form is a giant, humanoid cockroach that can have a poisonous bite or claw attack. Their "beast form" is a swarm of hundreds of cockroaches, all controlled by a single mind.

** Interestingly, they come off as quite [[The Woobie|miserable]] rather than scary (to the point where people who know about their personalities call them [[Expy|Kafkas]]). They lose absolutely none of their humanity in the whole [[Body Horror]] process, and they can't live among humans since light hurts their eyes. The elders eventually become estranged from their human sides, but given the general misery that is their existence, it seems more like Unclean who ''[[Driven to Suicide|survive]]'' to that point used the logic of "You know what? [[Jerkass Woobie|Fuck you]], [[Madden Into Misanthropy|I]] ''[[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|am]]'' [[Tragic Monster|a monster]]!"

* A standard creature type in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', most commonly seen in black and green.

 

* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', many of the rahi qualify, such as the Nui Jaga (giant scorpion) and Nui Rama (giant wasp-like creature).

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The bug-like Shivans in ''[[Free Space]]'' are somewhat of an exception. They are intelligent and possess extremely advanced technology, and their agility and strength means they don't so much creep and crawl as leap, smash, and throw armored soldiers around like toy dolls.

** {{spoiler|They may also be cybernetic, and are permanent space-dwellers since their hind legs are configured in a way that only make sense in free-fall.}}

* Skrashers in ''[[Startopia]]'': They develop aboard your station inside the trash-eating [[Small Annoying Creature|Memaus]] before bursting out as huge insectile monsters with giant claws to smash up your station.

* ''[[Resident Evil]]'' liked to play this by having giant snakes, tarantulas, and even a Black Tiger...a giant spider Capcom specifically redesigned from the [[Video Game Remake]] on so it looks like a Australian funnelweb to make Chris or Jill shit themselves.

** Drain Deimos and Brain Suckers (giant fleas) in ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]'', Novistadors (giant wasps) in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', and [[Demonic Spiders|Reapers]](giant roaches) in ''[[Resident Evil 5]]''.

* The antlions in ''[[Half-Life]] 2''.

* The entire point of ''[[Deadly Creatures]]''. Well, except that the creepy crawlies are normal sized, but you're ''playing as them''.

* ''[[The Conduit]]'' has creepy crawlies of all sizes, but the big ones include the man-sized Drones, the eight-feet-tall Scarabs, and the tank-sized Invaders.

** Bug-Type specialists include Bugsy, Aaron, and Burgh.

* The ''Gohma'' family of Boss Monsters in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''. Also, some of the other Boss Monsters as well... [[Nightmare Fuel|brrr]]...

* [[Fallout]] games feature a handful of giant bugs [[I Love Nuclear Power|mutated by radiation]], including two-foot Radroaches, Radscorpions that grow upwards of six feet long, and Giant Ants, some of which breathe fire.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has, in addition to various giant spiders, scorpions and the like, the Silithid. These are a hive dwelling race with much variation (or possibly several sub-species) to fulfill different roles. The [[Eldritch Abomination|Old God C'Thun]] transformed some of them into the Aqir. The Aqir empire launched a [[Bug War]] to wipe out all non Aqiraji life, and on their defeat split into two different races, the Qiraji and the Nerubians. The first remained servants of C'Thun, and continued to launch Bug Wars against the rest of Azeroth. The Nerubians left for [[Grim Up North|Northrend]] where they created an underground empire, which was destroyed by the [[The Undead|Scourge]]. Although some materials describe them as being just as xenophobic and evil as the Qiraji, the entirety of player interaction with living Nerubians is friendly. They also abandoned the worship of C'Thun on the basis that it, "makes as much sense as a fly caught in a web worshiping the spider who is about to devour him".

* Many levels in Chapter 5 of ''Super [[Meat Boy]]'' are filled with large maggots. Often there are piles of them. The chapter boss itself consists of 3 of the largest maggots.

* Almost every single enemy in ''[[Let's Go Jungle|Let's Go Jungle: Lost On The Island Of Spice]]''. Most of which are [[Giant Spider]]s. In fact, the only three enemies that aren't creepy crawlies of some sort are the [[Frogs and Toads|frogs]], [[Piranha Problem|piranhas]], and the [[Man-Eating Plant]] boss.

* Tons of them abound in the [[Shoot'Em Up]] ''[[Bio-Hazard Battle]]'', which takes place after a virus causes a planet's lifeforms to grow to massive proportions.

* ''[[Bug!]]!'' has insectoid Mooks the same size as the titular character, but it is subverted as the player character himself is a bug. Then you see [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73sZVG3o_bQ the ending], which shows that Bug and the insectoid enemies (who are actually actors) are about half the size of a human!

* Beetle Mania in ''[[King of the Monsters]]''.

 

* Zimmy from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' was briefly menaced by a large, insectile ''thing'' [[Imaginary Enemy|that may or may not actually exist]].

* The warrior-type slaver wasps of ''[[Girl Genius]]''.

** The Baron's [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070105 Hoomhoffers], giant beetles around the size of tanks.

* The People-Eating Poly-Sorbate Insectoid (P.E.P.S.I.) from ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].'' It [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20060617.html ate the main character once.] But he got better.

 

* ''[[Tech Infantry]]'' features the Arachnids, also known simply as The Bugs. Yes, they're [[Homage|shamelessly ripped off]] from ''[[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]]''. But these versions are, if anything, even scarier. The Guardian Bugs, Emperor Bugs, and Queen Bugs are enormous, easily [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|fifty feet tall]]. And those and the smaller but still deadly Warrior Bugs can use [[Reality Warper|magic]].

* Reemus, of ''[[The Several Journeys of Reemus]]'', tends to deal with these guys, which makes the fact that he's not quite as famous or well-respected as his dragonslayer brother just a bit nonsensical, since Reemus can and sometimes does take out entire colonies of giant beasties in his line of work, while his brother usually only gets one at a time.

* The Large Beetle from ''[[Water Human]]'', at least in episode one (later on, he gets smaller, which is explained by a [[Hand Wave]]). He's actually friendly and intelligent, and even is the protagonist's closest friend.

* ''[[The Motley Two]]'' has a giant [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|beetlebeast]] with about dog-like intelligence, and a giant belligerent "mantid". Both of these are the lusii of the troll protagonists (in case you haven't read ''[[Homestuck]]'', basically their pets/guardians/surrogate parents) and are scheduled to train to become BRAVE AND MIGHTY STEEDS once their owners are drafted into the army.

* Half the characters of ''[[Starship]]'' are Big Creepy-Crawlies, who implant their eggs in mammals and gladly give their lives for the hive and their Overqueen... and they're (mostly) ''good guys''. The protagonist is a bug named Bug who talks and acts like he just walked out of a Disney movie, and eventually the audiences gets to see a small [[Bug War]] where both sides' POV is clearly shown: [[Grey and Grey Morality|"OMG, these things are disgusting and gross! We've gotta destroy 'em before they destroy us!"]]

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** The Insecticons are back in [[Transformers Prime]], and they're bigger and uglier than ever.

* ''[[Jonny Quest vs. the Cyber Insects]]'': The titular mutant space-bugs, which [[Big Bad]] Dr. Zin created from ordinary Earth insects (cockroaches, ants, etc.).

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* The [[wikipedia:Giant isopod|Giant Isopod]] definitely qualifies. [[Your Mileage May Very]] on whether it's [[Fluffy Tamer|strangely cute]] or [[Nightmare Fuel]].

* Giant insects/arthropods were common from the Ordovician to the Carboniferous period, with foot long cockroaches, seagull-sized Dragonflies, 8 and a half-foot long millipedes and 3 ft long Scorpions. Foot long versions of these survived into the Permian period.

** This was only possible because the oxygen in the atmosphere was almost ridiculously high at the time, 2-3 times today's. Bugs absorb oxygen through pits in their body, their size is strictly limited by the concentration of oxygen in the air.

* The Giant Asian Hornet is the size of your thumb, can fly faster than you can run, and its sting has venom that ''dissolves flesh''. [[Nightmare Fuel|Sleep tight, now.]]

** Might I add, that flesh-dissolving venom has pheromones that call more of the damn things to attack you, and they live right outside of major cities?

** To be fair, however, their larvae are delicious when fried. They taste like crab-flavored popcorn!

** Also Japanese Honeybees can outwit the hornets by luring them into the hive, swarm them and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6m40W1s0Wc&feature=player_detailpage#t=121s shake and bake.] The bees survive, the hornets are toast.

* ''Scolopendra gigantea'', the Amazon giant centipede. Centipedes are creepy enough, but Scolopendra gigantea is about a foot long.